Workshop on cultural ecosystem services – conflicts and limits at the International Mountain Conference, Innsbruck, 08–12 September 2019

Mountain areas are highly important for the provision of cultural ecosystem services (CES), offering for example many recreational opportunities, aesthetic landscape enjoyment, and inspiration to both local populations and their visitors. Whereas the use of CES in remote mountain areas was often limited in accessibility, today many areas are becoming more and more accessible to outdoor sports (e.g. downhill-mountain biking, canyoning, free-climbing). In many locations, these activities are facilitated by artefacts or infrastructures (e.g. bike trails, cableways), resulting that CES can be impacted by growing user frequency. This increase may cause conflicts among different types of users and may affect mountain agriculture and biodiversity conservation. We welcome contributions related to the assessment and evaluation of CES in mountain regions, approaches to identify conflicts, limits of sustainable use, and consequences of use as well as examples on how to successfully manage local impacts and disturbances.